From staff reports
Getting ready for another prep basketball season …The five most pressing questions entering this season:
1. Can West Rowan’s boys get over that sectional final hump?Mike Gurley’s Falcons have made the sectional final three straight years, losing to Parkwood, High Point Andrews and Hickory.
This season, Gurley has a team stronger than any of the others. This could be the year West gets back to the Western Regional.
2. Will there be much of a change at Salisbury now that Andrew Mitchell has taken over the girls team?There will be changes, and they will probably be discipline and work ethic. Mitchell coached on the college level for 15 years and will keep this talented group continuing on its way toward a state title.
3. What will new Carson assistant Doug Faison mean to Brooke Misenheimer at Carson?Watch for the Cougars to increase their win total and do it with defense. That’s Faison’s specialty. Carson went 2-45 in its first two years of existence.
4. Who will win the Christmas tournament?Both Salisbury teams are defending champions. The girls are an easy choice. If Salisbury and West make it to the boys final, that has the makings of one of the best championship games in recent history.
5. What kind of coach will Greg McKenzie be now that he doesn’t have a Vanderford on his team?
McKenzie always has had either Alstin or Justin, both county players of the years.
“East might have young, inexperienced players,” Gurley said. “but they still have Greg McKenzie.”
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TRADING PLACES: Mike White has traded spots on the bench at North Rowan with Tony Hillian.
Hillian, who has coached AAU and YBL, says he is ready for the next step.
“I like coaching because I can motivate young men and women,” Hillian said. “I have skills I can use to keep them motivated on and off the court.”
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ALL-COUNTY BOYS: Here is the preseason team:
West Rowan’s K.J. Sherrill and Kaleb Kimber, Carson’s Darius Moose and Josh Doby, Salisbury’s Brandon Abel and Darien Rankin, South Rowan’s Hunter Morrison and North Rowan’s D.J. Hipps.
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ALL-COUNTY GIRLS: Here is the preseason team:
Salisbury’s Bubbles Phifer, Shi-Heria Shipp and De’Rya Wylie, East’s Ashley Collins and Katelynne Poole, West’s Ayana Avery, South’s Taylor May and North’s Quon Cuthbertson.-
DIAPER DANDIES: Top newcomers to varsity teams this season include freshmen Jordan Kimber and Keshun Sherrill of West and North’s Teaunna Cuthbertson.
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ALL-NAME TEAM: Salisbury’s Phil Do, Carson’s Salih Begic and our personal favorite Symphony Roberts.
Roberts said her parents named her after a candy bar by the same name.
“They liked it,” she said. “I love it. It describes me.”
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PIGSKIN PLAYERS: At West, Gurley is still waiting on several football players. He’ll gladly do so.
“I love having football players around here,” he said. “They get used to winning and they already know what it’s like to make a commitment to something.”
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I’M BAAACK: One familiar face who will bring his team back to Rowan County at least twice is Jim Young.
The former girls and boys coach at East Rowan is now the head boys coach at new CCC school Providence Grove.
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NAME GAME: Is there ever a year when a Sherrill wasn’t starring at West Rowan?
This year, West has three in K.J., B.J. and Keshun.
Other good Sherrills have included Jerry, Chris, and, of course, Scooter.
“I might be wrong, but Keshun’s the last in long line of Sherrills,” Gurley said.
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CCC: Nick Parsons left Central Davidson for Lexington, but the Spartans still have 6-7 center Shawn Davis.
n Robert Hairston, a former assistant to Gurley at West Rowan, is again coaching Lexington’s boys.
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COACHING BOYS: Five Rowan head boys coaches are seasoned veterans. The sixth, Brian Perry, is the only coach Carson has ever had.
West’s Gurley heads the county list with a phenomenal 250-63 record since he arrived in Mount Ulla for the 1997-98 season.
West is basketball country. The Falcons were tough before Gurley, and they will probably be tough after Gurley, but he’s built on a great tradition and won four out of every five games for 11 seasons.
Gurley, a seven-time Rowan County Coach of the Year, has the horses to become the all-time winningest coach in the county in February. He needs 25 wins to accomplish that feat.
Three legends have won more often than Gurley at Rowan schools ó Bob Pharr (252-100 at Boyden and Salisbury), Sam Gealy (266-139 at North Rowan and Salisbury) and Bob Hundley (274-189 at North).
Hundley’s 18th and last season at the North helm intersected with Gurley’s first at West. Among the players Hundley coached is Mitchell.
n Kelly Everhart has 130 career wins in 10 seasons at North Rowan and needs 15 to surpass Charles Hellard, who coached at Salisbury and West, for seventh place on the all-time county chart.
Probably a tall order, but the Cavaliers have talent.
n East’s Greg McKenzie needs 12 wins ó a challenge in a rebuilding season ó for an even 100 as a Rowan coach. Thirteen boys coaches at Rowan schools have reached the 100-win plateau.
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BOYS STREAKS: West Rowan won 21 games last season and has won at least 20 games in 15 of the last 19 seasons.
n Salisbury always finishes better than it starts, and it has finished first or second in the CCC five straight seasons. Jason Causby has piloted the last four clubs.
n South last won a regular-season title in its league in 1989 and hasn’t finished higher than fourth since 1996.
n East has enjoyed five consecutive winning seasons for the first time in school history. East grad Justin Vanderford played in a school-record 88 victories, and Kenan McKenzie, Greg’s son, was involved in 87.
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BOYS MILESTONES: Morrison, a South senior, entered this season with 275 career points.
Morrison, who scored 238 points as a junior, needs another 298 to surpass David Wolford, South’s previous point guard, for 25th on the school’s all-time list.
n Moose, a Carson junior, already his school’s all-time leading scorer, needs 258 points for 1,000.
Moose dropped in 464 last season.
n Salisbury’s Abel is another good bet for 1,000 points. He has 775 entering his senior season.
Abel scored 409 points last season. If he matches that production, he’ll finish sixth on the school’s all-time scoring list and fourth in the modern era behind Bobby Phillips, Bobby Jackson and Bryan Withers.
n West’s K.J. Sherrill surpassed 1,000 career points in last season’s playoffs and enters the 2008-09 season with 1,042.
Sherrill produced 515 points last year, the 12th 500-point season in West history.
If the Charlotte signee matches that production as a senior, he’ll finish his career as West’s No. 3 all-time scorer behind Scooter Sherrill, who is K.J.’s cousin, and Donte Minter.
n Davie guard Drew Absher entered his senior season with 1,078 points.
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COACHING GIRLS: Rowan schools have shuffled girls coaches frequently in recent seasons, and East’s Karen Garmon, who is entering her fourth season, now has the longest tenure and the most wins with a 42-40 record.
White, who will assist Hillian at North this season, posted 95 career wins as a head coach at North, eighth on the county’s all-time list.
South’s Jim Brooks, with 28 career wins, is second in victories among active girls coaches.
No one is going to pass Jesse Watson, who coached East’s girls to 324 victories, anytime soon.
Watson won 126 more times than North’s Gary Atwell, who is No. 2 on the all-time chart with 198.
Other school record-holders include South’s Perry Bradshaw, Salisbury’s Jennifer Shoaf (167) and West’s Toni Wheeler (126).
n Dee Miller’s single season at Salisbury produced a 28-2 record that included splitting four meetings with 2A state champion East Davidson.
Miller’s .933 winning percentage was the best ever for a one-shot girls coach.
The only comparable girls basketball campaign turned in by a one-season coach was by West coach Al McCue in 1961. McCue had a 20-3 record and won NPC regular-season and tournament titles.
n Coaching females isn’t routine. Football winners such as North’s Burt Barger (26-86) and Roger Secreast (10-55) had their hands full coaching girls hoops.
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GIRLS STREAKS: West’s girls are working on a streak of 13 consecutive winning seasons.
n Salisbury’s girls have compiled five straight seasons of 26 or more wins, have made five straight regional appearances and have won or shared five straight CCC regular-season championships.
The Hornets are 65-3 in the CCC the past five seasons.
n East’s girls have posted double-figure wins (on the court, at least) 19 straight seasons. The Mustangs forfeited all 24 wins they achieved in the 2003-04 season.
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GIRLS MILESTONES: Collins, an East senior, needs 144 points for 1,000.
East’s Poole also has a shot. She scored 321 points last season and is 359 away from 1,000.
Poole will surpass a number of players early this season on her way to cracking East’s all-time top 20, including Misenheimer, who scored 709 points for the Mustangs.
n May, a South senior, entered the season needing 372 points for 1,000.
She would have to enjoy a huge senior season to get there. She put up 290 as a junior.
n Carson junior Jazzmin Brown entered the season with 192 career points.
She needs 98 to pass Mack White as the Cougars’ all-time scoring leader. White was a senior in the Cougars’ debut season.
n North’s Cuthbertson has 357 career points and needs 205 this season to crack the Cavaliers’ all-time top 25.
n Salisbury’s Shipp is headed well past 1,000 points this season.
Shipp entered the year with 878. She scored 406 points last season. If she matches that production, she’ll finish her career No. 4 on the Hornets’ all-time list behind only Shayla Fields, Donna Carr and Sherree Gillespie.
n Salisbury’s Phifer poured in 443 points last season, the eight-highest total in school history.
Phifer entered this season with 610 points and has a better than a 50-50 shot at surpassing 1,000 as a junior.
n Salisbury’s Wylie has an outside shot at 1,000 because the Hornets are likely to play deep into the playoffs. Wylie, who does her damage off the offensive boards, totaled 299 points last season. She needs 351 for 1,000.
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HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: This basketball season will be the 50th for East and West.
North completed its 50th campaign last spring, and the Post will attempt to name a 50-person North all-star hoops team (25 males, 25 females) during the season along with an all-time coach and an all-time player.
East and West anniversary squads will be posted next season.
If you have suggestions for those squads, e-mail sports@salisburypost.com.
Did you know that 50 seasons ago the county’s top two male scorers were China Grove’s David Abernathy and Dunbar’s Joshua Drafton?
Woodleaf’s Wilson Fleming, Boyden’s Eddie Kesler, Mount Ulla’s Gary Howell, Dunbar’s Bobby Wiley, Boyden’s Bobby Morgan, Mount Ulla’s Jackie Meadows, Woodleaf’s Bob Wetmore, Granite Quarry’s Gary Kepley, Cleveland Larry Wilhelm, Dunbar’s Wallace Davis , Price’s Edward Mitchell, China Grove’s Ron Beaver and Mount Ulla’s Gary McNeely also averaged double figures.
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ANNIVERSARY II: This season marks the 40th anniversary of the final basketball campaigns for the county’s all-black schools, and we’ll be revisiting that historic last tussle between Dunbar and Price.
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MOIR MADNESS: It won’t be easy to top last season’s Christmas tournament boys semifinal in which Salisbury beat East 87-83 in overtime, but you never know.
Casual fans probably remember that classic as the championship game, but the Hornets actually beat Davie 59-52 in the final for their 11th Christmas title and first since 1997.
Salisbury inched back ahead of West, which owns 10 boys titles.
South still owns that one boys title it claimed back in 1996. East Meck and North Davidson, who haven’t been in the event in decades, are tied with the Raiders with one Christmas championship.
Did you know that Mitchell was the Christmas MVP for North in 1983?
West’s Gurley owns four tourney titles, while Davie’s Mike Absher won back-to-back in 2003-04. Current Catawba player Cliff Burns was tournament MVP for Davie in 2003.
Did you know the tournament was wiped out by a measles epidemic in 1988 or that the Christmas tournament began as a boys only event in 1971?
And did you know there’s never been a back-to-back MVP in the boys bracket or that the tournament was renamed the Sam Moir Christmas Classic in 1996 to honor Catawba’s former men’s coach?
n The end of Salisbury’s Christmas domination isn’t in sight.
The Hornets return two-time MVP Shipp, who could become the first to be named MVP three times in a row, as well as Rowan County Player of the Year Phifer.
The Hornets have won five straight titles, including last season’s record-setting 76-27 romp over East Rowan.
Salisbury now has six total titles to tie Davie for second place. East still leads with seven, but it will be a shock if the Hornets don’t catch up this year.
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And finally …
We’ll put out a challenge to any other county in the state. We’ll put our coaches up against anyone in a co-ed game of hoops:
Just to name a few, the coaches with college playing experience include Salisbury’s Mitchell (Catawba), South’s Withers (UNC Wilmington), South’s John Davis (St. Andrews), West’s Gurley (Belmont Abbey), Carson’s Perry (Catawba), Carson’s Misenheimer (Pfeiffer) and Carson’s Ebony Pharr (Belmont Abbey).
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Ronnie Gallagher and Mike London contributed to the notebook.